


Our Little Secret

by Howlxte



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Idiots in Love, M/M, Rabbits, Secret Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-02-23 05:33:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23706511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Howlxte/pseuds/Howlxte
Summary: Octane is acting very weird, Crypto notices immediately that he's hiding something.
Relationships: Crypto | Park Tae Joon/Octane | Octavio Silva
Comments: 1
Kudos: 68





	Our Little Secret

**Author's Note:**

> I tripped and fell into the Apex Legends world and can't find my way out. These two stole my heart and I ship them so hard.
> 
> Part of the blame is on [Snppd_C](https://twitter.com/Snppd_C) amazing art of it, also their maskless Octane is what I'm using for my writing cause I'm sucker for baby face Octane. Anyways hope you enjoy this fluff fest.

Octane was being surprisingly quiet, too quiet.

The daredevil legend had a loud attitude that was his normal personality. This would clash with others but it seemed the other legends had learned to tolerate him and Octane knew when to back off when he stepped over the line. Saved him from a painful slow death in the ring next match.

Crypto noticed his change in behavior immediately, it was a break from matches, the legends were given usually a few days to relax so it wasn’t constant bloodshed 24/7. During this off time they bunked in the compound near the ring. Everyone was glad to be back at King’s Canyon, the wildlife was still a pest but the familiar scenery was nice. Crypto watched Octane scurry past the main rec room, wearing a baggy hoodie which was a different clothing choice. The smaller man rarely wore long sleeves, even when it was freezing he said the cold never bothered him anyways due to always running or taking stim.

This was odd.

Crypto also saw that Octane’s hoodie moved.

“What do you have there?”

Octane stopped short and looked at Crypto, even with his mask on the hacker could imagine the expression the shorter man had under it, a look of being caught red handed.

“Nothin.”

Crypto wasn’t convinced but before he could drill Octane to find out exactly what he was hiding Octane sprinted off towards his room leaving Crypto alone. Crypto let out a sigh and went back to what he was working on before Octane came in.

Crypto tried to keep everyone else at arm’s length, he wasn’t here to make friends, he had a mission to do. Though try as he might he couldn’t exactly avoid everyone and keep up his brooding hacker persona as Elliot jokingly called it. Crypto started to enjoy some of the other legends company and had friendly conversations with them but most kept him alone, all except Octane.

He expected the other would try to be friendly with him, given they were right next to each other on the dropship. Octane seemed to even be friendly with Bloodhound, so he was a courteous neighbor. Crypto thought Octane would be loud and obnoxious late into the night but actually stayed relatively quiet, his noises just being the background static that came with resting on a ship. Octane would stop his gaming and go over to watch Crypto hack, he obviously didn’t understand what was going on as he asked Crypto loads of questions about what he was doing, who he was hacking and why. Crypto would give basic answers not revealing anything to try and get Octane to leave him alone but the other was persistent. Octane even went so far to invade Crypto’s personal bubble, hooking his chin over Crypto’s shoulder and pointing at the screen talking a mile a minute.

Crypto won’t admit he found the other quite charming but he didn’t have time to get close to anyone.

So he wasn’t at all curious to find out what Octane was hiding.

* * *

Octane was distracted but not by someone blowing up or the giant wildlife flying around.

This was a different kind of distracted that got Crypto’s attention as soon as they dropped down. Instead of running off to find the best weapons and loot Octane stayed still for once and then ran off in a light jog. This was extremely out of place for the daredevil and it wasn’t just Crypto who noticed. Wattson was on their squad today and she noticed Octane’s change in behavior, looking over at Crypto as if saying ‘ _what’s up with him?_ ’ 

All Crypto could do was shrug.

Octane eventually went back to being his old self after the second round, taking some stim and running off well ahead of his teammates. Crypto sent his drone out to scout while Wattson put up her fences to hopefully trap the remaining squads. Crypto was able to spot a few squads before he had to make his drone retreat back but he wanted to know where Octane ran off too. Guiding his drone he found Octane under the train tracks crouched down and...talking to himself?

Before the drone could investigate further Octane sprang up and ran off away from where Crypto and Wattson were. 

That was odd.

Their squad ended up winning, thanks to Octane jumping in from his jump pad and eliminating the last member. Though Octane who loved to soak up the glory was being very camera shy, trying so hard not to look like he was obviously hiding something when the remote flying cameras were coming close. 

As soon as he was free to go Octane booked it to the dropship before anyone else could get on. Crypto found it was time to confront the other legend for what he was hiding. Crypto didn’t like not knowing something, he accepted he couldn’t know everything about every legend, Bloodhound being the most elusive but he had a dirty secret on each legend he could use for blackmail if circumstances presented themselves. Crypto found Octane in his corner of the dropship under a desk hidden away, he almost missed the legend if it wasn’t for him speaking in a hushed voice.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh dios mio!!” Octane shouted, hitting his head under the table as he crawled out and turned to face Crypto. The hacker was not expecting to see Octane holding a tiny fluffy white rabbit in his hands. Crypto’s eyes were wide as he stared at the tiny creature with its black eyes, little nose wiggling as it seemed perfectly content in Octane’s hands.

“...don’t tell anyone.”

* * *

Octane was the kind of person to do something and suffer the consequences later, that’s exactly how he ended up with metal legs.

An old nagging feeling came over him as he watched Bloodhound affectionately pet their bird, the raven preening his feathers and ruffling them happily from the attention. 

It made Octane realize he hadn’t had a pet since Navi passed. She was a good bunny, going with him on stunts in his youth and was so calm about it. The rabbit was his best friend during that rough patch in life, father remarried again, didn’t have time for him, new step mom didn’t want anything to do with him. Navi though was always happy to see him when he came home from school, eagerly bouncing over, Octane scooping her up in his arms and giving her kisses. She was his biggest consultant in all his stunts, telling her all his ideas, he asked Navi for her input and she just hopped around and scratched at the paper, that was her way of saying yes. 

The rabbit lived a good life, Octane was fourteen when she passed away. When he got her at eleven Navi was already seven years old, his dad’s assistant at the time getting him an older bunny than a baby one. Navi was ten when she died in her sleep, Octane didn’t want people to know it broke him up but it did. She was his best friend and was gone, he coped with her loss by making her death sound much more extreme than it really was, which got him in trouble. His new step mom tried to get him another one but he said no, no other bunny would be like Navi.

After seeing that Bloodhound got to keep their bird, maybe he could have a pet too! 

Octane wasn’t thinking about a lot of things as he searched the web for a bunny that looked like Navi and easily found one. In less than forty eight hours he was the proud new papa of a bunny.

Then came trying to figure out how to take care of her.

Firstly he had to sneak her into the compound then he could easily get all the things she needed sent to the compound inconspicuously through the delivery system. Octane was almost found out by Crypto but dashed before the hacker could say anything.

The new bunny was fearless, she was hopping around exploring everything in Octane’s room. For the time being he named her Mullida since she was much flufflier than Navi was. Octane sat very still as Mullida sniffed him and pawed at his clothes and metal legs. He cooed at her in Spanish saying how she was the cutest thing in the world and would die from her cuteness. Octane spent the entire off time in his room with her, only coming out to get food and steal any vegetables he could get his hands on for Mullida.

Octane faced his next biggest problem when getting her, what to do when he was on the drop ship. 

Octane didn’t want Mullida to be all cramped in a tiny cage for hours in the ship, but he had to make that small sacrifice and get a tiny cage for her. Bloodhound’s bird was in a small cage too but their bird went with them during matches. Mullida couldn’t unless she was like Navi.

Sneaking the small cage in was easy, he put it under one of his tables and covered it with a thick black blanket, that gave her some peace of mind he hoped. Octane held her close in his hoodie during take off and she didn’t flinch one bit, maybe she was like Navi.

He decided to test it out next match and was immensely happy to know she didn’t get scared while he played in the games. But he won’t take her out all the time, he could die in many gruesome ways. Octane shuddered, remembering when Wattson and Wraith teamed up and kicked him into the lava pits.

After winning he felt he'd take her out on occasion but still it wasn’t the best situation.

It only got worse when Crypto found out.

* * *

“Why do you have a rabbit?” Crypto wasn’t expecting Octane’s big secret these past few days to be a rabbit.

“She’s my pet.” Octane answered as if that would explain everything.

“That didn’t answer my question.” Crypto approached causing Octane to take a step back but his thighs met the edge of his desk, there was no room to escape. Crypto reached a hand out and he couldn’t see it but Octane closed his eyes tight expecting the worse but it didn’t come, he opened his eyes and saw through his goggles Crypto was holding out his finger for Mullida to sniff. The little bunny’s nose was wiggling as she sniffed Crypto’s finger, she didn’t seem scared of him. Crypto saw he earned her trust and gently with his finger pet her head. It was actually kinda sweet, watching the hacker pet the little fluff ball so gently.

“Again, why do you have a bunny?” Crypto looked up so he could face Octane.

Octane sighed and rubbed a finger on Mullida’s soft fur as well. “I had a bunny when I was younger and I was missing her so I got another.”

“And you thought bringing one to a battle royale death match in the Outlands was a good idea?”

“Ok when was I ever known for good ideas?” Octane shot Crypto a look unseen by the mask.

“You have good ideas.” Crypto gently brushes his fingers over Mullida’s ears, little bunny closing her eyes getting sleepy from her exciting day.

“Ok now you know so don’t tell the other legends.”

“I won’t.”

* * *

Mullida became the two legend’s little secret.

It was much easier for Octane to have Crypto in on the secret cause then he had someone else to watch her. If one of them was eliminated from the day’s tournament they would immediately go and check on her after getting the all clear from the med team. Mullida was getting used to both legends, she was most content napping in either of their coat pockets. On the drop ship Octane would sneak her out when everyone was sleeping or not looking. Mullida snuggled in Octane’s hoodie pocket while he played games or Crypto would idly stoke her fur while she sat in his lap and he worked on his projects.

During the time off from the games Crypto found himself spending more time in Octane’s room. Sitting on the bed doing his work while Mullida laid down next to him and Octane played his video games or talked about his new stunts he wanted to do in the games.

It was becoming a little domestic between the two of them.

Crypto realized this when after a late night gaming session with Octane the smaller man passed out leaning his head on Crypto’s shoulder. 

The hacker knew he was growing fond of Octane as the days went by from at first taking care of Mullida but it at one point changed from taking care of the bunny to genuinely wanting to spend time with one another.

* * *

Octane finally trusted Crypto enough to take his mask and goggles off and Crypto knew he was a doomed man.

Octane’s face wasn’t what he was expecting.

For one Octane was very young looking for his age, if Crypto didn’t know this man was twenty four he would have mistaken Octane for seventeen. His face was smooth yet defined, a small edge of his cheekbones, no scars as Crypto had thought that was why he wore the mask. Octane had a few piercings, mainly his ears and one eyebrow piercing. Octane raised an eyebrow at Crypto staring at him.

“What?”

“Nothing…”

“Not what you were expecting?” Crypto nods. “Yeah I know, no one expects baby face Octavio.” He turned his attention back on Mullida, holding her gently and rubbing his face on her soft fur, the bunny didn’t mind and sniffed his face. Probably wondering what happened to the face she was used to seeing.

“Oh mi bebé it’s me don’t worry, it’s papi.” Cooing more at the bunny who was familiarizing herself with the new face.

Octane made it more of a habit to wear his mask less, especially when Crypto was around. He heard from other legends Octane keeps his mask on when a new one arrives and he’ll take it off when he feels he can trust them.

In the confines of Octane’s room he showed Crypto he finally trusted him, Octane was laying on his back on the bed while Crypto leaned against the pillows and wall. It was another quiet moment between them.

Crypto cracked a small smile, Mullida was getting bigger so she now took up almost all of Octane’s face as he nuzzled her. It was amusing watching Octane have half his face covered by a fluffy white rabbit.

Suddenly the door to Octane’s room was opening and the smaller man moved faster than Crypto ever saw him move. First priority was hiding Mullida and Octane found it best to hide her in Crypto’s jacket, it was bagging enough he pulled some of it over but in doing so Octane was laying on Crypto’s chest. The hacker realized the position they were in but it was too late to move.

Bangalore opened the door, she took in the two’s positions for a half a second before announcing that dinner had been made by Gibraltar and to come to the kitchen if they wanted any. Octane said the two would be down soon and she nodded before closing the door.

Both let out sighs of relief.

Octane pulled Mullida out of her hiding spot, hoping she wasn’t dazed by the sudden movement and as usual the rabbit was calm.

“That was close.” Octane petted Mullida’s head.

“Yes it was.” Crypto agreed but Octane hadn’t moved off of him and he was feeling a little awkward. Octane did get off of Crypto and took Mullida to her cage hidden in his room. Putting her inside so she wouldn’t wander too much around his room without supervision.

“Come on, lets get some food, Gibs is the best cook out of everyone.” Octane walked over to Crypto and pulled at his hand getting the hacker off the bed and dragging Crypto out of his room. Octane didn’t let go of his hand the whole way to the kitchen and Crypto was trying to will away the heat in his cheeks over Octane holding his hand. 

God he was so touched starved.

* * *

“God where did those two go?” Mirage sighed loudly as he looked around for his squad, Octane ran away as soon as they touched the ground and with Crypto right at his heels. Oddly enough both of them ran right past the loot crates. Mirage sent a few duplicates out while he went in the direction the others went. He came upon a shack where he could hear the two talk, no it sounded like arguing.

Mirage was now more interested to know what the two were arguing about, he wasn’t blind and saw how Octane and Crypto were spending way more time together. Quietly climbing up the steps he was next to the door hearing them much better.

“Why did you bring her?” Crypto sounded very angry.

“She wanted to come, I couldn’t leave her on the dropship.”

“You have been leaving her there and she was fine!”

“But she misses us, wants to spend more time.”

Mirage blinked, who was this she they were talking about? Mirage hadn’t seen anyone out of the ordinary at the compound or on the dropship. Mirage listened some more before a bullet whizzed by and hit the side of the shack, he scrambled into the shack and shut the door avoiding a few more bullets. Taking a few breaths to calm his heartbeat he looked at the two and was not expecting this.

Octane holding a white bunny in his arms as the two young men were on their knees arguing until being interrupted.

“What’s going on here fellas?”

“This is why you’re not supposed to bring her, we get caught like this.” Crypto nudged at Octane’s shoulder, the daredevil legend cursed in his native tongue while Crypto gently took the bunny from his arms. Octane loudly protested but couldn’t put up much resistance as that would hurt the bunny.

“So are you guys gonna to tell me about carrots or?” Mirage pointed at the bunny who was staying very calm despite having jumped out a dropship.

Mirage was mostly ignored as Crypto and Octane still were arguing, Crypto saying how it was dangerous and Octane saying she needed to get out of the ship.

“Hey! Enough of the lover’s spat but we’re in the middle of a game and we have enemies closing in on us, ditch the bunny and help me out of this.”

That was apparently the wrong thing to say as both legends stopped their arguing and directed their attention on Mirage. Crypto held the bunny closer as he gave him a death glare, Octane had gasped loudly being a little dramatic. 

“How dare you expect us to leave our child in this dangerous game?” Octane making this over the top.

“This wouldn’t be a problem if you didn’t bring her in the first place.” Crypto was quick to remind Octane and the two went back to arguing.

Lets just say their squad didn’t end up winning and to spare Mullida from being hurt they all gave up.

Both were being drilled by Bangalore for bringing an animal into the games, Octane argued that Bloodhound had their bird. Crypto was just letting the two argue while he kept a close eye on Mullida being fawned over by the other legends. Wattson was gently holding the rabbit in her hands while she cooed in French, Mirage gently petting her head. Even Wraith was cracking a slight smile at the adorable small animal.

Mullida was winning everyone’s hearts over which didn’t help Bangalore when she said that the bunny couldn’t stay.

After much debating it was agreed upon that the bunny could stay until off season and Octane was to have better arrangements for her. Octane was ranting in Crypto’s area of the dropship, pacing back and forth, it was just the two of them as others didn’t want to hear the loud ranting. Mullida was resting right next to Crypto, he idly petted her fur.

“I just don’t like the idea of someone else taking care of her. What if she loves that person and forgets about me?”

“I don’t think she will.” Reassuring Octane.

“But what if she does! Then she won’t be my bunny anymore and I’ll lose someone else.” Crypto perked up when Octane said that, was he betraying the real reason he held onto Mullida so close? It was no secret how much Octane didn’t like his family, never mentioning them or avoiding questions about them. Crypto wasn’t proud to say he knew all of the messages exchanged by all the legends and he saw that Octane was avoiding and deleting any messages from his father. Didn’t take a genius to figure out Octane didn’t like his family, from a few snippets of conversation he overheard from Lifeline it seemed Octane’s father was absent after his first wife, Octane’s mother, left him.

Crypto got Octane’s attention and patted the spot on his bed next to him. Octane came over and plopped down. 

“I can understand your fears but this is the best choice for Mullida.”

“I know I know but still, someone else feeding her, taking care of her, like I love doing that for her, it’s how we bonded so much and why she bonded with you as well.” Mullida hopped over to Octane and then rolled over onto her side next to him, typical rabbit behavior that she was comfortable around him.

Crypto mulled over the pros and cons of Octane hiring someone to take care of her while she was permanently moved to the off field compound. There were plenty of Apex staff that could take time to feed and clean up after a bunny but like Octane said animals get used to the people who take care of them.

An idea popped into Crypto’s head, it would take time and work but did he really want to do this all for Octane?

Yes cause deny it all he wanted it wasn’t just Mullida who wormed their way into his heart.

“If given some time I can make another drone like the one I use for the games but this one would be programmed to take care of Mullida and can be remotely controlled by me.” Octane looked over at the hacker, his eyes blown wide. 

“You- you really do that?”

“I understand your logic, if a drone takes care of her when we can’t be there then an attachment won’t form. We can also speak through the drone so she won’t forget our voices.” This was going to be a lot of work but a rabbit wasn’t too high maintenance. Mullida was litter trained so someone would have to clean that up which was fine, the drone could easily restock her food and watch over her. Some drones even took care of the fliers captured in King’s Canyon since the beasts weren’t friendly with humans.

“Muchas gracias!” Octane surprised Crypto by throwing his arms around the hacker in a tight hug.

Crypto went still from the hug, not expecting this response from Octane. He was being painfully reminded it had been so long since he got a hug. Not wanting to let the feeling go away Crypto loosely wrapped one arm back around Octane.

“You’re the best Crypto.”

Crypto wished his cheeks didn’t flush warmly from the compliment.

* * *

Crypto finished the drone that would babysit Mullida, it looked like his usual one but had a robotic arm so it could open her cage and bring her food. Crypto was showing Octane how it worked, the drone flew easily around Octane’s room in the compound. Octane was mesmerized, his chin hooked over Crypto’s shoulder as he watched the screen. Crypto did a maneuver with the drone so it came close to Mullida and placed some cilantro in front of her. The rabbit happily began munching her favorite treat.

“You can say hi to her.” Octane perked up and leaned closer

“Hola mi precioso conejito.” Mullida’s ear flickered, she looked around for Octane wondering why she could hear him but not see him.

“Don’t worry bebé papi will be home soon!” Making kissing noises and more cooing sounds. Crypto chuckled lightly watching the display of love for the rabbit. Crypto missed her too and even though they were still technically taking care of her it didn’t feel as personal as it was before.

“Only three more days then we have the time off.”

“I know, I just miss her.” Octane sighed resting his chin back on Crypto’s shoulder. The hacker hadn’t minded the touch until Octane snaked his arms around Crypto’s shoulders and was practically hugging him from behind. The back of the chair he sat in preventing Octane from pressing his front to Crypto’s back.

Crypto docked the drone and the feed went black, in a few hours he’ll start the drone up again to check on Mullida.

“Don’t you miss her too Crypto?” Octane sighed, it sounded loud to Crypto since Octane was right next to his ear, he felt the shorter man’s breath on his neck.

“I do.”

Crypto never had a pet, not one to call his own. He recalled one foster family having a dog, the dog was friendly and nice to him and Mila but sadly that family didn’t last long and they were sent off to the next foster home. Being in foster care meant he couldn’t get pets, there had been the stray cat he befriended but he knew he could never keep them. Even when he and Mila finally had a place of their own he was hesitant to get an animal, worrying he wouldn’t be able to take care of them. On the run it was out of the question to have a pet, it slow him down and having to worry about another life besides his own would cause weakness. But here at the games he could relax somewhat and enjoy the company of another animal. Even though Octane insisted that Mullida was their bunny it didn’t sit right with Crypto, the rabbit was truly Octane’s, he just happened to enjoy taking care of it.

“I know you love her.” Octane pokes Crypto’s cheek.

“I am fond of her.”

“Just admit you love her.” Poking his cheek harder.

“Ok ok I do love her.” Lightly chuckling.

“There it is, there’s that smile.” Octane was smiling when Crypto looked back at him. “And that cute flush to your cheeks.” 

Crypto flushed brighter causing Octane to laugh.

The hacker tried to push Octane off of him but the other just squeezed his arms tighter around Crypto’s shoulders. Octane laughed harder as Crypto tried to get him off but the smaller one just held on tighter.

“Admit it mi amor you like me.”

Crypto went still.

“You like me, you wanna date me, you wanna kiss me.” Octane said in a sing-song voice.

“No I do not.” Crypto’s face was flushed to the point that if his neck and ears weren’t covered they would be red too.

“Liar.”

Crypto hated that Octane was right, try as he might the other legend wormed his way into the hacker’s tightly guarded heart. From all their late night gaming to both taking care of Mullida a connection had occurred. Crypto wanted to deny it but Octane wasn’t having any of it.

“Come on, I like you too. Have been for awhile.”

Crypto’s eyes widen hearing Octane’s confession.

“You like me?”

“Yeah duh, you’re like the only person besides Ajay and Elliot who actively wants to hang out with me, and you love Mullida, plus you’re really hot so it’s a win win.”

Crypto held back an eye roll but hearing Octane say he liked the hacker back made some of the flush go down.

“So? Go on a date with me?”

“We can’t leave the arena.” Legends were supposed to remain on the premise at all times.

“I know a way we can sneak off and I’m positive you already know how to crack this place wide open.”

That was true also most didn’t follow the rules of leaving base, leaving the planet however was off limits and would be an immediate disqualification from the games.

“Por favor?” Octane pouted and had puppy eyes, Crypto was weak to those. Mila did it all the time when she wanted something.

“Fine, we can go on a date.”

Octane smiled wide and leaned close to kiss Crypto on the cheek, causing the flush to return.

“Let's go hot stuff!”

**Author's Note:**

> It's a sucky ending but I didn't know how to wrap it up.
> 
> I have a lot more ideas for this pairing even though I have other fics that need work but I just wanted to get this idea out. If anyone wants snippets of my other work ideas just check out my [twitter](https://twitter.com/Howlxte).


End file.
